urgent question about delia's christmas cake!!!

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

It says soft brown sugar. I have dark brown soft sugar - is that ok or do I need the pale stuff??

Should be fine - dark may have a more intense flavour, but I doubt anyone will really be able to tell the difference once you've made it and fed with with gallons of brandy!

will be fine.
mine this year had a mixture of soft brown, dark brown and muscovado as that was in the cupboard.
have also deviated from christmas pud recipe as had tangerines not orange and lemon, brandy and marsala instead of barley wine (wtf is that anyway?) and some walnuts that needed eating, and chrries because i lik them. am hoping it turns out o.k.

It will be fine. I usually do her recipe and use whatever brown sugar I have at the time.

Brilliant - thanks everyone.

If I haven't got soft brown sugar for a recipe that needs it, I use half and half dark soft brown sugar and caster sugar - seems to work ok.

If you use just the dark soft brown sugar, I might cut down the amount of treacle in the cake.

sunnygirl.

Thank you!
Another urgent question - I have just realised that my 2 year old is going to want some of the cake, so I really shouldn't be putting brandy in it should I?? I've already done the initial 3 tablespoon fruit soak. Do you think this is ok and will it still taste ok if I don't add any more or should I just keep it for the grown ups, do it properly and make her different stuff?

Good point - if I don't feed it when it's cold, will it still taste 'proper like'?

In my experience, when they were younger the ds's didn't eat enough of the cake for the brandy in it to have an effect on them - what they really wanted was the icing and the marzipan - the cake mainly got left.

You could try just feeding it once, just before you marzipan and ice it - then you'll get a hint of the brandy-fed taste, but the amount of brandy per mouthful of cake will be minimal.

I make Delia's cake each year, btw, and I love it - the only problem is that the rest of the family aren't so keen on the cake, so I end up eating it over several weeks - and it is definitely a calorific option - not a good way to start the New Year's diet!!

And mildmanneredsnotmonster (love the name) - there are lots of varying recipes - and different cooks will get different results even with the same recipe. My uncle once complimented my mum on the yumminess of her cake, and suggested that his wife should ask my mum for her recipe as it was sooo much better than hers. Sadly both auntie and mum were using the same recipe - their mum's recipe, so uncle's suggestion did NOT go down well!!

sunnygirl.

Lovely lovely - very good point indeed!

Now then - when do I marzipan and ice the darn thing?

I usually marzipan mine about a week and a half before Christmas. Then leave it for a week for the marzipan to dry out, then ice a few days before Christmas. I made mine yesterday (the Delia one) and used dark brown soft sugar!

Oh, and I stuff mine full of brandy and my 7 yo ds eats it!

He hasn't complained yet...

I usually marzipan and ice mine a couple of days before christmas, because I am so bliddy disorganised that the cake isn't made until about a week before Christmas and has to get fed a couple of times. I'd like to say that this is all part of the excitement of Christmas for me - but in truth, it's more like part of the stress of Christmas!!

I made mine this morning!
I have a vigorous fan oven so have it on 110 degrees instead of the 140 the recipe says - is the recipe assuming a fan oven already do you think?

Another dim burning question....

When I've put the marzipan on and it needs to 'dry out' do I keep it wrapped up in the tin or is it meant to sit out in the air?

Once marzipanned I try to keep mine covered but loosley - ie on a board with a big tin or cake box on top.

Does that make sense?

Yes it does

How long does the cake last for

I feed mine with brandy every so often and don't marzipan it until much nearer the time-I usually end up icing it a few days before Christmas (but only due to running out of time). They keep for ages.

keeps for months really.

We usually finish ours about mid-Feb